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The drive into LA was no where near as nerve racking as we had thought and we reached our hotel in record time luckily avoiding 'the busiest intersection' (thanks to some award winning naviagting from Jacq (she told me to write that) in LA... We were too early to check into our hotel so we dumped our bags and took a wander down to Santa Monica beach and checked out the pier and a bizarre UK pub (of which we would find many over the coming days).
During our lunch at the english pub, while Jacq was in the bathroom, i experienced what was probably the funniest scene of my life and was straight out of a comedy sketch... The english guy at the table oppisite us was very happy that the pub had imported HP sauce all the way from blighty so decided to add a huge dollop to his bangers and mash (honestly, why do people leave the UK!), he decided that the sauce at the top of the bottle was too runny so gave the bottle a "ruddy good shake" at which point the top of the bottle came off and proceeded to cover him, his wife and the people at the next table in HP sauce... how i didn't laugh out loud i am not sure but as he wiped the HP from his eyes i think the dressing down he got from his wife was enough to cover everyones embarrasment!
LA was the hottest place we had been with temperatures up in the 90's (30 degrees) and the heat felt very dry and european... i am sure the smog covering LA helped with the temperature! After we had left the english pub and i had stopped laughing we headed back to the hotel and dumped our bags in our room and headed out for the evening. Whilst sat in the pub enjoying our cocktails (yes, we are still backpacking!) we enjoyed the view of a drunk being bundled into the back of a LAPD paddy wagon kicking and screaming... ahhh LA....
We had booked ourselves on a 'Terry Tourist' LA City Tour the next day so we were quietly pleased when the bus turned up with only a small logo on the side rather than the Mickey Mouse shaped bus we had expected... The tour was actually very good and meant we saw pretty much all that LA had to offer without having to brave the freeways or driving into the wrong side of town and getting shot... We saw Venice beach and canals, the mexican quater, downtown complete with authentic New York laneway which was available to rent for filming (very bizarre town), up to Hollywood where we saw the Chinese Theatre and lots of Hollywood wannabes begging on the streets. Next it was up to Mullholland Dr to see the Hollywood sign and have a nosey at some of the celebrities homes, we even had the opportunity to see the Playboy Mansion, i rang the door bell but i was told Hugh wasn't home and i was to 'go away quickly'... We spotted Eddie Van Halen drive passed at warp speed and the bus almost crashed into Tommy Lee which probably would have been a memorable experience had we hit him... We then hit Beverly Hills and Rodeo Dr but alas... no Luke Perry or any of the 30 somethings from 90210... We think that the shop assistants are even less tolerant of dumb tourists now than they were before Pretty Woman came out... Aparrently having you nose stuck in the air is the flavour of the month on Rodeo Dr... So we bought a bottle of water and left! The tour was 5 1/2 hours long and by the end we had seen some extreme wealth but also a lot of extreme poverty which really magnified the fact that there is no middle ground in LA... you either make it or you don't... simple as that!
Two days was more than enough in LA and we were ready to move on to calmer waters... This next part of our trip was our calm-down time! The coastal drive of Big Sur!
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